If you have a fire pit or are planning to have one of them, then invest some of your time in reviewing the safety of the fire pit. This is especially important if you are new to using the fire pit.
It only takes a second for a comfortable fire to ignite in the burning hell. Ensure that you can get the most out of your fire pit by keeping family and friends safe.
This article will help you to keep your safety with your fire pit. Now I am going to point out some details about the safety instructions while using your fire pit.
17 Fire Pit Safety Tips
1. Wind Conditions of your area
You have to check the wind conditions. Check the local weather forecast before you plan to start lighting in your fire pit. Do not use your fire pit on unusual windy days, as the wind hardens the blaze and can cause sparks to flow into nearby bushes or structures, potentially starting a fire.
Also, always check the wind direction before you start your fire. Advise the guest to sit at the top of the fire pit to keep the smoke clean. If you plan to buy or already have a portable fire pit, consider taking it somewhere with a natural windbreak before lighting a fire.
2. Build Your Fire in the Open Area
You have to avoid lighting your fire pit under a tree or a tree in a building and keep the area around the hole clean from yard waste and other combustible materials. Weird sparks can come out of the fire and burn nearby structures, dry wood, leaves, or other debris, and you can end up with a fire emergency.
3. Avoid Burning Construction Lumber
To light your fire, go ahead and use the winters you removed from the damaged oak tree after last winter’s storm, or buy hardwood lumber and logs from the market.
You can also use softwoods like pine and apple, but be aware that they burn less efficiently and produce more sparks and smoke than a more complex stem tree, resulting in less pleasant evenings resulting from the fire.
However, you should never burn construction materials such as plywood, MDF, pressure-treatment boards, posts, or chemically treated wood pallets.
Construction wood is treated with chemical resins, adhesives, and other substances that emit toxic fumes when burned – which is not necessarily what you want to inhale (or eat) with your roast marshmallows.
4. Keep Yourself Ready to Extinguish the Flames
Fire can be aggregation and magical. It attracts you and others with its warmth and flame and gives joy and romance to outdoor gatherings. But it can also be an unexpected, destructive force.
If you place your fire pit in a safe place and consider the wind speed and direction, you may probably not face any significant problems or harm. But you must always keep a shovel and water with you, just in case.
If an emergency occurs, you can use the water to extinguish the fire and the shovel to throw the dirt and breathe the flames. You may also want to invest in a fire blanket, which can be used to soften the outside or outside of the fire pit or any of your guests in a worst-case scenario.
And don’t forget to teach kids to “stop, drop and roll” in situations where their clothes are on fire. You may not need any of these protection measures, but without them, a fun evening could end in tragedy.
5. Keep Chairs Away from the Fire Pit
Everyone knows to be alert around a fire pit, Campfire, or chimney, but in the heat of a ‘memory session,’ people can get close to the flames, and that’s why hair, clothing, or other items can catch fire.
Place the chairs in the safe removal from the fire pit and make sure your sleeves are rolled up and the hair tied back when you resist the fire or roasting food on an open flame. If you have a screen in your fire pit, use it.
You may also like: The Best Fireplace Screens
6. Drink Safely beside Your Fire Pit
Fire and alcohol are not mixed. Alcohol is not only flammable, but excessive involvement in alcohol disrupts coordination, judgment, and reflection, which can injure anyone gathered around the perimeter of the fire.
If you or your guests go out to drink over an open fire, do so in moderation. Keep everyone at a safe distance from the flames and be prepared to catch fire in the event of an alcohol-induced accident.
7. Storage of Firewood
To keep the fire burning throughout the evening, you need to continue feeding it fuel. However, take care to keep firewood at a safe distance from the fire pit. If you want to fire at your own pace, don’t jump into the fire and feed yourself.
Also, you have to store it in a dry and indoor place. If you use a firewood alternative to avoid using woods. If the woods are not stored properly then it can make more smoke and damage your health.
8. Fire Pit Clearance
Never place a fire pit more than 10 feet from anything burned in the fire, including the branches of your house and overhead trees, before hitting the match. Please do not place the pit on grass, wood deck, or enclosed veranda until the owner’s manual fixes it.
You also can check the best wood deck fire pit if you do not have other space to place your fire pit.
9. Fire Pit Fuel
Always keep dry, hardwood wood that was cut at least six months ago to keep sparks from flying burn, making sure the logs are no more than three-quarters of the diameter of the fire pit.
Make sure all vents are evident, including gas pits, to avoid smoky stimuli. And use only the fuel that was made to burn the pit. For traditional wood-burning fire pits, this means using dry, well-seasoned sticks.
Also, do not load so much that there is a risk of something falling. Once the pit is lit, hold the lower hand close, only if the bonfire of your joy suddenly begins to glow a little brighter.
10. Starting the Flames
Never use light liquids, gas, or kerosene to light a fire. It can be harmful and dangerous for your fire pit.
You also can find here how you troubleshoot a Propane Fire Pit.
11. Putting Out a Fire Safely
Fire Extinguisher: It should be a dry chemical fire extinguisher with class B and C or multipurpose rating, such as in your kitchen. Be prepared to follow the passing procedure: 1) pull the pin; 2) aim at the beginning of the fire; 3) Press the trigger gently; 4) Sweep the nozzle from side to side. Keep in mind that most portable fire extinguishers range in size from 6 to 10 feet and 8 to 10 seconds.
Water or Sand: Turning on the water and setting the nozzle to “spray” is as easy to do as it is to keep your garden hose close. (Central currents of water can scatter burning chambers). Check beforehand to see if your pet can withstand any housing; Water ceramic pits can even crack some metals. If it can’t get wet, or if you’re not sure, place the bucket over the flame next to the dry sand. For gas or propane pits, turn off the supply before attempting to extinguish a fire.
Portable Phone: If the fire spreads beyond the perimeter of the hole or continues to burn above your head, or prevents you from closing the propane tank or natural gas valve, quietly remove everyone from the area and call your local fire department.
12. Remove Dead Embers
To control the fire, spread coal, ash, and balance logs in as thin a layer as possible. Then set the garden hose in a wide spray or “fog” pattern and spray the hole to reduce the temperature and cool the area. Fill this area until the room is dead.
You find here how you can use the ashes after using your fire pit.
13. Toast Master
Square marshmallows at the end of long, fire-safe metal rod or grill forks with heat-proof handles. If you have a metal shish kebab square, hold it with a potholder or oven mitt to avoid burns.
Or, go for the long green wood sticks inside. These are less likely to burn. If you’re after the golden-brown crust, don’t hold the marshmallows in a giant flame – they say they toast well on low heat or hot coals.
14. Choose Wood Wisely
Leroy Height, the owner of Aging Firewood Cutting in Atlanta, says avoid softwoods like cedar or pine, which get the hardest woods like ash, hickory, and oak that burn the longest.
Hickory has a strong, classic “campfire” scent but oak is virtually odorless. You can try wood that is moderately hard, such as cherry, which has a sweet aroma, or birch, which does not smoke or spark too much.
You can check here for the best quality firewood.
15. Contain Sparks
Once you have created the fireplace, a spark screen over the hole, hold a garden hose in your hand to reduce flames when it gets out of control. Never use a bucket of water. “The wood that burns over the wood-burning fire creates a hard crust over the wood, coal, and ash and flows a lot of water,” Redhouse said.
16. Pick a Good Spot
To prevent accidental fires, keep the hole away from homes, garages, granaries, equipment sheds, and other structures that may catch fire.
Avoid bushes and trees, railings, fences, anvils, clothes, and electrical wires at risk for sparks and extreme heat. “The heat of the fire dries up everything above it,” explains Royhouse, who has a degree in fire science. “If something becomes dry and brittle over time and reaches a certain temperature, it can burn. You don’t even need a spark; heat alone can burn it.”
The ideal place for a fire pit would be in the middle of a yard, at least 20 to 25 feet away. With yards that don’t have that kind of space, but at least a 10-foot buffer zone around the hole.
And don’t forget the weather. Try to avoid air space and never put any fire pits on the wood or composite deck. If your fire pit goes directly to the ground, clear the area below all the leaves in at least double circles of the hole.
17. Don’t place your fire pit on a wood surface.
You have to place your fire pit on a concrete surface or natural grass surface. Avoid wood surfaces or artificial grass surfaces for your fire pit.
If you place a wood-burning fire pit on your wooden deck, it can harm your deck. Sometimes burning embers or sparks come from the fire pit, and your wooden deck may catch fire. So you have to ensure that your fire pit is above concrete or natural grass.
If you place your fire pit in artificial grass, then the grass can be melted by the heat of your fire pit. So you have to avoid artificial grass as well to place your fire pit.
If you consider a gas fire pit, make sure that your fire pit gets maximum airflow. If it does not get proper airflow, then it can leak gas and create any unwanted accident.
Things You Have To Remember
- The fire pits are for outdoor use only: If you think you will buy a fire pit and use it as an indoor fireplace, you need to reconsider. These products are designed for use only outside the door. Fire produces carbon monoxide, which can have serious health consequences or even high levels of lethality.
- You have to place the fire pit away from structures and trees: Carefully consider the location of your fire pit. You want to make sure you don’t place it too close to your home, garage, or shed. Trees can present a danger when fire pits are placed too close to excessive branching. A spark from your fire pit can land on dry branches and leaves and burn.
- You have to install a screen around the fire pit: The screen will help you to move away from the fire pit area and ignite the things around the pit.
- You have to keep a fire extinguisher close by when using the fire pit: It is good to have an executive fire extinguisher with you when using your fire pit. It can help you to deal with any small fire quickly. Be aware that you know how to use it before you do it when you feel it is an emergency.
- Use only recommended fire starters: Check the manufacturer’s instructions or user manual to determine which brand they recommend. It would be best if you did not use gasoline to light a fire in a fire pit.
- Check the weather before using the fire pit: It is unsafe to use a fire pit in windy conditions. The wind can pick up and spread sparks all around.
- Keep a close eye on children when the fire pit is in use: Children should never be taught to play near a fire pit. The idea that they should be respectful of fire should be taught from an early age.
- Never leave the fire pit unattended while in use: If for any reason you need to leave the fire pit area, make sure that a responsible adult is available to monitor the fire until you return.
- You have to ensure that the fire is completely extinguished before you go inside for the night: You can either use a fire extinguisher for this purpose or pour water into a fire pit to spread it. When the fire is over, cover the area with a fire pit to protect the area. If you will remove coal or wood from the fire pit area, place these items in a metal bucket instead of a paper bag. There is still a possibility that they will become “hot” and start a fire if they contact the explosive item.
Conclusion
Fire is very enjoyable when it burns in the fire pit. But this fire can be deadly If you do not follow the safety precautions.
All we learn from today’s article is how you can maintain safety with your fire pit. This can be very helpful for you if you are a new or experienced user of the fire pit.
You can follow the instructions above and enjoy your fire pit safely with your friends and family.
